24
An Exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York Cars, Culture & the City
� �
An Exhibition at theMuseum of the City of New York
Cars, Culture & the City
Cars.indd 2-1 1/5/10 12:33:01 PM
� �
From March through August of �0�0, marking the �00th anniversary of the
Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association (GNYADA), the Museum of
the City of New York will present the first exhibition to explore New York City’s
century–long relationship with the car. Even though New York, like many major
cities, has a low per capita ownership of automobiles, it has surprisingly played
an essential role in creating today’s car culture, and the car has helped, in turn,
to shape modern New York. Cars, Culture and the City will feature visionary
drawings and models; historic photographs, films, and advertisements; and a
wealth of car memorabilia to tell this fascinating, yet untold, story.
In �89�, the year historian Frederick Jackson Turner
famously declared the end of the American frontier, the
Duryea brothers of Massachusetts rolled out the first
American automobile and opened a new motorized
embodiment of the frontier. While today the car is an
essential part of life in every American city, suburb, and
small town, New York’s distinctive relationship with the
automobile is one that comprises equal parts love and
hate, reality and romance. On the one hand, the auto
showroom is a gleaming show window into the cutting
edge of American style and technology. In an annual
ritual, like baseball’s World Series or the opening of
the school year each autumn, new model cars were
unveiled; before the big revelation took place, brown
paper would cover dealer windows. Additionally, no city
shows off the speed and dynamism of the automobile,
the vehicle of modernity, better than New York. The
city’s bridges and tunnels, built in the first half of the
COvEr L Motors, �75th Street and Broadway, �948 PhOTO Gottscho–Schleisner, COurTESY Gottscho–Schleisner Collection, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Automobile row, Broadway, �950sCOurTESY Artkraft Strauss Archive
Cars.indd 2-3 1/5/10 12:33:02 PM
� �
From March through August of �0�0, marking the �00th anniversary of the
Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association (GNYADA), the Museum of
the City of New York will present the first exhibition to explore New York City’s
century–long relationship with the car. Even though New York, like many major
cities, has a low per capita ownership of automobiles, it has surprisingly played
an essential role in creating today’s car culture, and the car has helped, in turn,
to shape modern New York. Cars, Culture and the City will feature visionary
drawings and models; historic photographs, films, and advertisements; and a
wealth of car memorabilia to tell this fascinating, yet untold, story.
In �89�, the year historian Frederick Jackson Turner
famously declared the end of the American frontier, the
Duryea brothers of Massachusetts rolled out the first
American automobile and opened a new motorized
embodiment of the frontier. While today the car is an
essential part of life in every American city, suburb, and
small town, New York’s distinctive relationship with the
automobile is one that comprises equal parts love and
hate, reality and romance. On the one hand, the auto
showroom is a gleaming show window into the cutting
edge of American style and technology. In an annual
ritual, like baseball’s World Series or the opening of
the school year each autumn, new model cars were
unveiled; before the big revelation took place, brown
paper would cover dealer windows. Additionally, no city
shows off the speed and dynamism of the automobile,
the vehicle of modernity, better than New York. The
city’s bridges and tunnels, built in the first half of the
COvEr L Motors, �75th Street and Broadway, �948 PhOTO Gottscho–Schleisner, COurTESY Gottscho–Schleisner Collection, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Automobile row, Broadway, �950sCOurTESY Artkraft Strauss Archive
Cars.indd 2-3 1/5/10 12:33:02 PM
4 5
The first New York International Auto Show, Madison Square Garden, �900, PhOTO
Nathan Lazarnick COurTESY
George Eastman house/Getty Images
Cars.indd 4-5 1/5/10 12:33:03 PM
4 5
The first New York International Auto Show, Madison Square Garden, �900, PhOTO
Nathan Lazarnick COurTESY
George Eastman house/Getty Images
Cars.indd 4-5 1/5/10 12:33:03 PM
� 7
�0th century, give the city the world’s most dramatic
portals for entry by automobile. New York’s towering
skyscrapers, the architecture of modernity, provide
photographers and filmmakers with the most
picturesque setting for the automobile. The neon–lit
canyons of Times Square that make up our most
fundamental shared vision of the city is unthinkable
without a flowing stream of auto headlights.
At the same time, New York, a city whose grid–like
physical layout was built long before the car’s
introduction, has struggled to accommodate it. Intense
competition between pedestrians and motored vehicles
defines New York City’s streetscape. The difficulty of
parking cars and hailing taxis are the stuff of urban
legend and humor. The need to alleviate congestion has
inspired architects and city planners to conceive
innovative and visionary schemes for multi–level cities,
pedestrian–friendly plazas, massive systems of urban
expressways and regional parkways, as well as
strategies to discourage traffic.
Cars, Culture and the City will be organized into two
primary sections exploring the romance and reality of
the car in New York City. These will be interspersed with
four special features exploring the early history,
manufacturing, and design of cars in New York, as well
as a selection of artworks exploring the theme of the
automobile and the city.
The two primary sections are:
Promoting the Car As America’s media center, New York hosted the
events, built the showrooms, created the images, and
provided the urban setting that disseminated car
culture to the rest of country. Auto dealerships,
architects, and advertising executives, among others,
promoted automobiles as sexy and desirable
commodities. Even museums made it their mission;
in �95�, the Museum of Modern Art, then the only
museum in the world to exhibit cars, showed its visitors
what it considered the best designed automobiles,
including a Bentley, an MG, and a Jeep.
Automobile Rows and DealershipsFrom the start of the �0th century, a celebrated feature
of the Manhattan landscape has been the “automobile
row.” The first and most famous such row was a one–
and–a–half–mile length of Broadway from the West 40s
Warren–Nash Motor Corp., Broadway and 58th Street, �9�5, Byron Collection, Museum of the City of New York
Cars.indd 6-7 1/5/10 12:33:04 PM
� 7
�0th century, give the city the world’s most dramatic
portals for entry by automobile. New York’s towering
skyscrapers, the architecture of modernity, provide
photographers and filmmakers with the most
picturesque setting for the automobile. The neon–lit
canyons of Times Square that make up our most
fundamental shared vision of the city is unthinkable
without a flowing stream of auto headlights.
At the same time, New York, a city whose grid–like
physical layout was built long before the car’s
introduction, has struggled to accommodate it. Intense
competition between pedestrians and motored vehicles
defines New York City’s streetscape. The difficulty of
parking cars and hailing taxis are the stuff of urban
legend and humor. The need to alleviate congestion has
inspired architects and city planners to conceive
innovative and visionary schemes for multi–level cities,
pedestrian–friendly plazas, massive systems of urban
expressways and regional parkways, as well as
strategies to discourage traffic.
Cars, Culture and the City will be organized into two
primary sections exploring the romance and reality of
the car in New York City. These will be interspersed with
four special features exploring the early history,
manufacturing, and design of cars in New York, as well
as a selection of artworks exploring the theme of the
automobile and the city.
The two primary sections are:
Promoting the Car As America’s media center, New York hosted the
events, built the showrooms, created the images, and
provided the urban setting that disseminated car
culture to the rest of country. Auto dealerships,
architects, and advertising executives, among others,
promoted automobiles as sexy and desirable
commodities. Even museums made it their mission;
in �95�, the Museum of Modern Art, then the only
museum in the world to exhibit cars, showed its visitors
what it considered the best designed automobiles,
including a Bentley, an MG, and a Jeep.
Automobile Rows and DealershipsFrom the start of the �0th century, a celebrated feature
of the Manhattan landscape has been the “automobile
row.” The first and most famous such row was a one–
and–a–half–mile length of Broadway from the West 40s
Warren–Nash Motor Corp., Broadway and 58th Street, �9�5, Byron Collection, Museum of the City of New York
Cars.indd 6-7 1/5/10 12:33:04 PM
8
to the West 70s lined with glamorously designed auto
dealerships, tire companies, and car makers. Many of
the buildings were designed by the nation’s leading
architects, from Ernest Flagg to Albert Kahn and Shreve,
Lamb, and harmon, architects of the Empire State
Building. A �9�� description by a journalist noted:
“In great halls of baronial aspect, on Oriental rugs
and marble floors, under little whispering galleries
where the salesmen retire to their orisons, America’s
most shining triumphs are displayed.” This first
automobile row lasted until the �980s and today has
been replaced by one along ��th Avenue, with Park
Avenue housing showrooms of luxury cars. One of
these, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, situates the cars
on circular sloping ramps, a miniature version of
Wright’s famous Guggenheim Museum some thirty
blocks up the street. Wright was actually hired for this
project by Max hoffman, the legendary automobile
dealer who brought such European brands as BMW,
Porsche, Jaguar, and volkswagen to the u.S. for the
very first time. This was a key role for New York—as the
Statue of Liberty welcomed millions of immigrants to
the united States, New York City also served as the
point of arrival for cars from around the world. In the
outer boroughs of the city, such as Brooklyn’s Bedford
Avenue, and in suburban Westchester and Long Island,
smaller automobile rows began to grow up. In �9�0
eleven auto retailers formed the Brooklyn Motor
Dealers Association (now GNYADA) to cope with this
increasingly complex business. This section of the
exhibition will feature photographs of auto dealer show-
rooms and the wealth of printed materials dealerships
use to promote and sell cars. There will also be
auto show memorabilia, and models of concept cars.
LEFT
Crow–Elkhart Motor Corp., �9�0Byron Collection, Museum of the City of New York
rIGhT
Chrysler automobile salon in the Chrysler Building, �9��PhOTO Samuel h. Gottscho, Gottscho–Schleisner Collection, Museum of the City of New York
Cars.indd 8-9 1/5/10 12:33:06 PM
8
to the West 70s lined with glamorously designed auto
dealerships, tire companies, and car makers. Many of
the buildings were designed by the nation’s leading
architects, from Ernest Flagg to Albert Kahn and Shreve,
Lamb, and harmon, architects of the Empire State
Building. A �9�� description by a journalist noted:
“In great halls of baronial aspect, on Oriental rugs
and marble floors, under little whispering galleries
where the salesmen retire to their orisons, America’s
most shining triumphs are displayed.” This first
automobile row lasted until the �980s and today has
been replaced by one along ��th Avenue, with Park
Avenue housing showrooms of luxury cars. One of
these, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, situates the cars
on circular sloping ramps, a miniature version of
Wright’s famous Guggenheim Museum some thirty
blocks up the street. Wright was actually hired for this
project by Max hoffman, the legendary automobile
dealer who brought such European brands as BMW,
Porsche, Jaguar, and volkswagen to the u.S. for the
very first time. This was a key role for New York—as the
Statue of Liberty welcomed millions of immigrants to
the united States, New York City also served as the
point of arrival for cars from around the world. In the
outer boroughs of the city, such as Brooklyn’s Bedford
Avenue, and in suburban Westchester and Long Island,
smaller automobile rows began to grow up. In �9�0
eleven auto retailers formed the Brooklyn Motor
Dealers Association (now GNYADA) to cope with this
increasingly complex business. This section of the
exhibition will feature photographs of auto dealer show-
rooms and the wealth of printed materials dealerships
use to promote and sell cars. There will also be
auto show memorabilia, and models of concept cars.
LEFT
Crow–Elkhart Motor Corp., �9�0Byron Collection, Museum of the City of New York
rIGhT
Chrysler automobile salon in the Chrysler Building, �9��PhOTO Samuel h. Gottscho, Gottscho–Schleisner Collection, Museum of the City of New York
Cars.indd 8-9 1/5/10 12:33:06 PM
�0 ��
Presented in the �950s, the Motorama bridged a pair
of even more significant venues for presenting futurist
automobile culture to the nation: the New York world’s
fairs of �9�9/40 and �9�4. Both celebrated America’s
corporate power and featured spectacular pavilions
constructed by every major automaker. For the �9�9
fair, General Motors teamed up with one of the
country’s leading industrial designers, Norman Bel
Geddes, to create the fair’s most popular pavilion,
Futurama. remarkably prescient, it was an enormous
model of a freeway–covered America circa �9�0 that
visitors viewed from moving, elevated seats. For the
�9�4 fair, Chrysler joined forces with industrial designer
George Nelson for its pavilion, and Ford teamed up
with Walt Disney to create its Magic Skyway. Ford also
launched the Mustang in a carefully orchestrated public
relations campaign.
AdvertisementsNew York has long been the city that generated alluring
images of the car. Even before the first American cars
were manufactured, Horseless World magazine began
publication in New York in �895. The publication, along
with new sections in newspapers, targeted well–heeled
Automobile Shows and World’s FairsNew York City hosts many temporary events that
promote cars and car culture to a national audience.
The longest running such event is the New York
International Auto Show. The first in the nation, it
was launched in �900 and remains the most popular
auto show in America. Now owned and operated
by the Greater New York Automobile Dealers
Association, it is visited by more than � million
enthusiasts annually. The show has gained
international acclaim for bringing visitors face to face
with the cutting–edge technology that goes into
producing the world’s most ambitious automobiles.
While the Auto Show displays cars of every auto
maker in the world, one manufacturer—General
Motors—held its own annual auto show throughout
the �950s, the era of the company’s flair for auto
styling. No less glamorous a venue than the Waldorf–
Astoria hotel was good enough for GM’s Motorama,
where the company’s legendary director of design
harley Earl launched his futuristic “concept cars,”
including the first Corvette. While the Motorama’s
concept cars toured the country, they always
premiered in New York.
LEFT
Three auto show programs, �90�, �9�7, and �95� COurTESY Automobile reference Collection, Free Library of Philadelphia.
rIGhT Model and rolls-royce at the �958 New York International Auto Show PhOTO Sam Schulman COurTESY Bettmann/COrBIS
Cars.indd 10-11 1/5/10 12:33:10 PM
�0 ��
Presented in the �950s, the Motorama bridged a pair
of even more significant venues for presenting futurist
automobile culture to the nation: the New York world’s
fairs of �9�9/40 and �9�4. Both celebrated America’s
corporate power and featured spectacular pavilions
constructed by every major automaker. For the �9�9
fair, General Motors teamed up with one of the
country’s leading industrial designers, Norman Bel
Geddes, to create the fair’s most popular pavilion,
Futurama. remarkably prescient, it was an enormous
model of a freeway–covered America circa �9�0 that
visitors viewed from moving, elevated seats. For the
�9�4 fair, Chrysler joined forces with industrial designer
George Nelson for its pavilion, and Ford teamed up
with Walt Disney to create its Magic Skyway. Ford also
launched the Mustang in a carefully orchestrated public
relations campaign.
AdvertisementsNew York has long been the city that generated alluring
images of the car. Even before the first American cars
were manufactured, Horseless World magazine began
publication in New York in �895. The publication, along
with new sections in newspapers, targeted well–heeled
Automobile Shows and World’s FairsNew York City hosts many temporary events that
promote cars and car culture to a national audience.
The longest running such event is the New York
International Auto Show. The first in the nation, it
was launched in �900 and remains the most popular
auto show in America. Now owned and operated
by the Greater New York Automobile Dealers
Association, it is visited by more than � million
enthusiasts annually. The show has gained
international acclaim for bringing visitors face to face
with the cutting–edge technology that goes into
producing the world’s most ambitious automobiles.
While the Auto Show displays cars of every auto
maker in the world, one manufacturer—General
Motors—held its own annual auto show throughout
the �950s, the era of the company’s flair for auto
styling. No less glamorous a venue than the Waldorf–
Astoria hotel was good enough for GM’s Motorama,
where the company’s legendary director of design
harley Earl launched his futuristic “concept cars,”
including the first Corvette. While the Motorama’s
concept cars toured the country, they always
premiered in New York.
LEFT
Three auto show programs, �90�, �9�7, and �95� COurTESY Automobile reference Collection, Free Library of Philadelphia.
rIGhT Model and rolls-royce at the �958 New York International Auto Show PhOTO Sam Schulman COurTESY Bettmann/COrBIS
Cars.indd 10-11 1/5/10 12:33:10 PM
�� ��
aCCommodating the Car
Ease of Movement Within the City A century passed between the Commissioners’ Plan of
�8��, which established the New York City grid plan
of narrow streets, and the coming of the automobile
at the beginning of the �0th century. Ever since then,
New York architects, planners, city officials, and
ordinary citizens have sought to find creative ways to
accommodate the new technological—and increasingly
essential—marvel.
New York’s urban–jungle landscape has long
inspired artists and architects to imagine new ways
of accommodating the city’s competing modes of
transportation—from pedestrians to cars, trains,
subways, and even airplanes. Architect and regional
planner harvey Wiley Corbett began thinking about
making room for cars in the city with his �9�� plan
for multiple levels of traffic.
This became reality when highways were raised as in
the case of the West Side highway, or lowered beneath
a park, as in the New Deal–era East river Drive or the
Brooklyn–Queens Expressway. One of the most
Experimental, three– wheel “runabout,” displayed at the General Motors pavilion at the �9�4 New York World’s FairCOurTESY
Automobile reference Collection, Free Library of Philadelphia
controversial schemes was Westway, the proposed,
but unbuilt, replacement for the West Side highway in
the �970s, which projected a freeway buried beneath
a riverside park. Its cost was projected at a billion
dollars a mile, but Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan
called it “the Central Park of our time.”
There have also been many fantastic visionary
schemes for New York in the future. They usually
melded skyscrapers and multiple levels of
transportation, and attracted the attention of futurists
throughout the world. Perhaps the most radical
approach was the Lower Manhattan Connector by
architect Paul rudolph in the early �970s. A kind of
mega–structure, the plan envisioned stacks of terraced
apartment blocks atop a freeway across Canal Street
extending to bridges across the East river.
There have also been far less visionary and more
practical schemes. recent years have seen new efforts
to balance the needs of the car with those of
pedestrians and bikers via simple strategies such as
mid–block crossings and sidewalk rails. Power broker
robert Moses oversaw the building of parkways leading
out of the city and controversial expressways within
it, while mayors from John v. Lindsay to Michael r.
enthusiasts. New York–based advertisers were equally
adept at creating dreams that sent buyers from Kansas
to California to their local dealers. Early automotive
advertising emphasized the aristocratic pedigree of the
car by showing it in posh settings. A �908 New York
World auto supplement for the auto show depicted
women swathed in the special clothes required by open
top motoring in front of Grant’s Tomb on riverside
Drive, while some years later, Doyle Dane Bernbach
created the famous “think small” volkswagen campaign
in New York. It was voted the most significant ad of the
�0th century by advertising experts.
Cars.indd 12-13 1/5/10 12:33:10 PM
�� ��
aCCommodating the Car
Ease of Movement Within the City A century passed between the Commissioners’ Plan of
�8��, which established the New York City grid plan
of narrow streets, and the coming of the automobile
at the beginning of the �0th century. Ever since then,
New York architects, planners, city officials, and
ordinary citizens have sought to find creative ways to
accommodate the new technological—and increasingly
essential—marvel.
New York’s urban–jungle landscape has long
inspired artists and architects to imagine new ways
of accommodating the city’s competing modes of
transportation—from pedestrians to cars, trains,
subways, and even airplanes. Architect and regional
planner harvey Wiley Corbett began thinking about
making room for cars in the city with his �9�� plan
for multiple levels of traffic.
This became reality when highways were raised as in
the case of the West Side highway, or lowered beneath
a park, as in the New Deal–era East river Drive or the
Brooklyn–Queens Expressway. One of the most
Experimental, three– wheel “runabout,” displayed at the General Motors pavilion at the �9�4 New York World’s FairCOurTESY
Automobile reference Collection, Free Library of Philadelphia
controversial schemes was Westway, the proposed,
but unbuilt, replacement for the West Side highway in
the �970s, which projected a freeway buried beneath
a riverside park. Its cost was projected at a billion
dollars a mile, but Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan
called it “the Central Park of our time.”
There have also been many fantastic visionary
schemes for New York in the future. They usually
melded skyscrapers and multiple levels of
transportation, and attracted the attention of futurists
throughout the world. Perhaps the most radical
approach was the Lower Manhattan Connector by
architect Paul rudolph in the early �970s. A kind of
mega–structure, the plan envisioned stacks of terraced
apartment blocks atop a freeway across Canal Street
extending to bridges across the East river.
There have also been far less visionary and more
practical schemes. recent years have seen new efforts
to balance the needs of the car with those of
pedestrians and bikers via simple strategies such as
mid–block crossings and sidewalk rails. Power broker
robert Moses oversaw the building of parkways leading
out of the city and controversial expressways within
it, while mayors from John v. Lindsay to Michael r.
enthusiasts. New York–based advertisers were equally
adept at creating dreams that sent buyers from Kansas
to California to their local dealers. Early automotive
advertising emphasized the aristocratic pedigree of the
car by showing it in posh settings. A �908 New York
World auto supplement for the auto show depicted
women swathed in the special clothes required by open
top motoring in front of Grant’s Tomb on riverside
Drive, while some years later, Doyle Dane Bernbach
created the famous “think small” volkswagen campaign
in New York. It was voted the most significant ad of the
�0th century by advertising experts.
Cars.indd 12-13 1/5/10 12:33:10 PM
�4 �5
Bloomberg have sought to create automobile–free,
pedestrian–friendly streets. Finally, nowhere is the art
of accommodating one’s own car—via parking—so
accomplished as in New York City. New Yorkers have
devised a range of strategies for parking on the street,
such as alternate–side–of–the–street parking and
complex signage to explain what can and can’t be done,
to ways of protecting their parked cars such as Bumper
Badger and De–Fender bumper protectors. At the same
time, some New Yorkers have bought smaller Smart Cars
or they rent Zip cars from pre–assigned parking lots.
A small group of New Yorkers will soon to able to park
at their own door in an ingenious plan for a high–rise
apartment building with an elevator that brings one’s
car to a personal garage next to the apartment.
Ease of Movement Beyond the City Part of the early appeal of the automobile was to join
city and country and allow rapid commuting. New York
can lay claim to being the creator of this concept of the
modern automobile highway. From Olmsted and vaux’s
separation of carriage road and pedestrian path by
bridges in Central Park, they moved to align horse and
foot traffic on the Eastern Parkway. The parkways of the
LEFT
Postcard, traffic control tower at 5th Avenue and 4�nd Street DESIGN Joseph h. Freedlander, circa �9�5, Museum of the City of New York
rIGhT Drawing created under the direction of harvey Wiley Corbett proposing elevated pedestrian sidewalks above street traffic, �9��COurTESY regional Plan Association
Cars.indd 14-15 1/5/10 12:33:11 PM
�4 �5
Bloomberg have sought to create automobile–free,
pedestrian–friendly streets. Finally, nowhere is the art
of accommodating one’s own car—via parking—so
accomplished as in New York City. New Yorkers have
devised a range of strategies for parking on the street,
such as alternate–side–of–the–street parking and
complex signage to explain what can and can’t be done,
to ways of protecting their parked cars such as Bumper
Badger and De–Fender bumper protectors. At the same
time, some New Yorkers have bought smaller Smart Cars
or they rent Zip cars from pre–assigned parking lots.
A small group of New Yorkers will soon to able to park
at their own door in an ingenious plan for a high–rise
apartment building with an elevator that brings one’s
car to a personal garage next to the apartment.
Ease of Movement Beyond the City Part of the early appeal of the automobile was to join
city and country and allow rapid commuting. New York
can lay claim to being the creator of this concept of the
modern automobile highway. From Olmsted and vaux’s
separation of carriage road and pedestrian path by
bridges in Central Park, they moved to align horse and
foot traffic on the Eastern Parkway. The parkways of the
LEFT
Postcard, traffic control tower at 5th Avenue and 4�nd Street DESIGN Joseph h. Freedlander, circa �9�5, Museum of the City of New York
rIGhT Drawing created under the direction of harvey Wiley Corbett proposing elevated pedestrian sidewalks above street traffic, �9��COurTESY regional Plan Association
Cars.indd 14-15 1/5/10 12:33:11 PM
�� �7
Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, serving the automobile, circa �94�, PhOTO Andreas FeiningerMuseum of the City of New York
East 5th Street before the automobile, circa �895, PhOTO Jacob A. riis, Jacob A. riis Collection, Museum of the City of New York
Norman Bel Geddes’s Futurama exhibition, depicting America �9�0, General Motors pavilion at the �9�9–40 New York’s World’s Fair PhOTO Margaret Bourke–White COurTESY Norman Bel Geddes Collection, harry ransom Center, university of Texas© Estate of Margaret Bourke–White/Licensed by vAGA, New York, NY
Cars.indd 16-17 1/5/10 12:33:15 PM
�� �7
Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, serving the automobile, circa �94�, PhOTO Andreas FeiningerMuseum of the City of New York
East 5th Street before the automobile, circa �895, PhOTO Jacob A. riis, Jacob A. riis Collection, Museum of the City of New York
Norman Bel Geddes’s Futurama exhibition, depicting America �9�0, General Motors pavilion at the �9�9–40 New York’s World’s Fair PhOTO Margaret Bourke–White COurTESY Norman Bel Geddes Collection, harry ransom Center, university of Texas© Estate of Margaret Bourke–White/Licensed by vAGA, New York, NY
Cars.indd 16-17 1/5/10 12:33:15 PM
�8 �9
aimed for “a humanized naturalness.” These roads
both created and disrupted neighborhoods. They have
been blamed for contributing to the postwar population
shifts to the suburbs that helped cause the city’s
economic decline.
This section of the show will feature architectural
and planning drawings and models, street signs, and
models of small, space–saving cars. The “only in New
York” travails of parking will be treated in a lighthearted
manner with an array of confusing parking signs,
equipment like “the Club” that promises to protect
one’s parked car from robbery, and the famous episode
of Seinfeld propelled by trying to park in New York.
Special features: Four special features will be located
adjacent to the exhibition’s two primary sections.
Born to Race The first automobiles were luxury goods and early
enthusiasts came from the first families of the nation—
often the first families of New York City. While there
were Astors and Carnegies, the best known of the
upper–crust auto lovers was William K. vanderbilt, who
laid out his vanderbilt Motor Parkway on Long Island,
the first road designed for high–speed cars, in �908.
So much a feature of aristocracy had the automobile
become by that time that Woodrow Wilson, the
outspoken president of Princeton, worried aloud that
it would spur resentment among the populace and
engender “socialistic impulses.”
Beginning with two signal events of �908,
however—the introduction of the Model T Ford and
the incorporation of General Motors—the automobile
moved beyond the wealthy. Ford’s Tin Lizzy was
affordable by farmer and shopkeeper, and General
Motors created a ladder of brands that corresponded to
class, from the basic Chevrolet up to the Oldsmobile,
Buick, and Cadillac. Through these innovations, the
car was democratized by the �9�0s.
Automobile Manufacturing In the early days of the automobile, circa �900,
European makers like DeDion, rolls–royce, and
Mercedes had their chassis built in New York. Each
car’s body was bought separately from its chassis and
locally procured. William Steinway, the builder of
the famous piano, assembled and built Daimler cars
carriage evolved into those for the automobile, with
the Bronx river Parkway. While the vanderbilt Motor
Parkway was the first road designed for high–speed
cars, the Bronx river Parkway aimed to bring the
driving experience to a wider public. One historian
declares that “When it was completed in �9�5, the
Bronx river Parkway was the first modern, multi–lane
limited–access parkway in North America.” It would
be followed by the network of parkways in Westchester
County and on Long Island in the �9�0s. This
was before Los Angeles opened the Arroyo Seco
Parkway, the first portion of what became the city’s
freeway system.
The parkway was a means for the city dweller to
escape into nature, and the parkway ideal was a romantic
vision of humanized nature. Its advocates saw the act of
driving as a way to enjoy nature, not just to get
somewhere. It was therefore designed to blend into
nature, with rustic stone used in bridges and natural
vistas carefully preserved. “The roadway should
conveniently accommodate the large amount of traffic
expected and to display to the traveler the principal
interesting features without despoiling it,” wrote a
leading transportation engineer. Its design, he declared,
under license and then attempted to build his own
model automobile. A few American makers also built
cars in the city. The most famous New York brand
was probably that of the Crane–Simplex Company
which advertised the famous “Made in New York City”
Simplex. John D. rockefeller, for instance, owned
a Crane–Simplex with a body by Brewster, the country’s
top coachbuilder. Other early firms included republic
Motor Company, Edwards Motor Car Company, and
Palmer & Singer Manufacturing Company.
Automotive Design New York has played a modest, but distinguished role in
automobile design. In the �890s, the nation’s first
school for automotive designers opened in New York on
the Bowery. By the �9�0s, with the rise of the new field
of industrial design based in New York, the city served
as the launching pad for some innovative designs.
Walter Dorwin Teague created advanced streamlined
designs for Marmon, while raymond Loewy’s extensive
staff served as Studebaker’s design department. They
provided many distinctive models, culminating in Bob
Bourke’s Starliner coupe and in the �9�0s, the last
Studebaker, the Avanti.
Cars.indd 18-19 1/5/10 12:33:15 PM
�8 �9
aimed for “a humanized naturalness.” These roads
both created and disrupted neighborhoods. They have
been blamed for contributing to the postwar population
shifts to the suburbs that helped cause the city’s
economic decline.
This section of the show will feature architectural
and planning drawings and models, street signs, and
models of small, space–saving cars. The “only in New
York” travails of parking will be treated in a lighthearted
manner with an array of confusing parking signs,
equipment like “the Club” that promises to protect
one’s parked car from robbery, and the famous episode
of Seinfeld propelled by trying to park in New York.
Special features: Four special features will be located
adjacent to the exhibition’s two primary sections.
Born to Race The first automobiles were luxury goods and early
enthusiasts came from the first families of the nation—
often the first families of New York City. While there
were Astors and Carnegies, the best known of the
upper–crust auto lovers was William K. vanderbilt, who
laid out his vanderbilt Motor Parkway on Long Island,
the first road designed for high–speed cars, in �908.
So much a feature of aristocracy had the automobile
become by that time that Woodrow Wilson, the
outspoken president of Princeton, worried aloud that
it would spur resentment among the populace and
engender “socialistic impulses.”
Beginning with two signal events of �908,
however—the introduction of the Model T Ford and
the incorporation of General Motors—the automobile
moved beyond the wealthy. Ford’s Tin Lizzy was
affordable by farmer and shopkeeper, and General
Motors created a ladder of brands that corresponded to
class, from the basic Chevrolet up to the Oldsmobile,
Buick, and Cadillac. Through these innovations, the
car was democratized by the �9�0s.
Automobile Manufacturing In the early days of the automobile, circa �900,
European makers like DeDion, rolls–royce, and
Mercedes had their chassis built in New York. Each
car’s body was bought separately from its chassis and
locally procured. William Steinway, the builder of
the famous piano, assembled and built Daimler cars
carriage evolved into those for the automobile, with
the Bronx river Parkway. While the vanderbilt Motor
Parkway was the first road designed for high–speed
cars, the Bronx river Parkway aimed to bring the
driving experience to a wider public. One historian
declares that “When it was completed in �9�5, the
Bronx river Parkway was the first modern, multi–lane
limited–access parkway in North America.” It would
be followed by the network of parkways in Westchester
County and on Long Island in the �9�0s. This
was before Los Angeles opened the Arroyo Seco
Parkway, the first portion of what became the city’s
freeway system.
The parkway was a means for the city dweller to
escape into nature, and the parkway ideal was a romantic
vision of humanized nature. Its advocates saw the act of
driving as a way to enjoy nature, not just to get
somewhere. It was therefore designed to blend into
nature, with rustic stone used in bridges and natural
vistas carefully preserved. “The roadway should
conveniently accommodate the large amount of traffic
expected and to display to the traveler the principal
interesting features without despoiling it,” wrote a
leading transportation engineer. Its design, he declared,
under license and then attempted to build his own
model automobile. A few American makers also built
cars in the city. The most famous New York brand
was probably that of the Crane–Simplex Company
which advertised the famous “Made in New York City”
Simplex. John D. rockefeller, for instance, owned
a Crane–Simplex with a body by Brewster, the country’s
top coachbuilder. Other early firms included republic
Motor Company, Edwards Motor Car Company, and
Palmer & Singer Manufacturing Company.
Automotive Design New York has played a modest, but distinguished role in
automobile design. In the �890s, the nation’s first
school for automotive designers opened in New York on
the Bowery. By the �9�0s, with the rise of the new field
of industrial design based in New York, the city served
as the launching pad for some innovative designs.
Walter Dorwin Teague created advanced streamlined
designs for Marmon, while raymond Loewy’s extensive
staff served as Studebaker’s design department. They
provided many distinctive models, culminating in Bob
Bourke’s Starliner coupe and in the �9�0s, the last
Studebaker, the Avanti.
Cars.indd 18-19 1/5/10 12:33:15 PM
�0 ��
Artists Look at the Car and the City New York City has provided artists with a stage for
fantastic images that synthesize the city and cars.
While artists featured will include photographer Paul
Strand and painter Albert Gliezes, perhaps the most
memorable image of the dynamic between the car and
Times Square is Ted Croner’s photograph of a city taxi;
radiant and hovering. The vehicle is a creature of light,
seeming to float among the other lights of the square.
About the Curators Donald Albrecht is the Museum of the City of New
York’s Curator of Architecture and Design. his
exhibitions at the Museum include The High Style of
Dorothy Draper, The Mythic City, and Paris/New York:
Design Fashion Culture, 1925–40. his exhibition,
Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future opened at the
Museum in November �009.
Phil Patton is the author of many books and writes
on automobile design for the New York Times. he has
been a contributing editor of ID magazine, Esquire,
Wired, and Departures. he has been consulting
curator for museum shows, including the Museum of
Modern Art’s exhibition Different Roads: Automobiles
for a New Century.
FAr LEFT
Simplex Automobile Co. sales brochure, �909 COurTESY
Science Industry and Business Library, New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations
LEFT
Sketch, New York designer raymond Loewy’s �95� Commander Starliner hardtopCOurTESY Studebaker National Museum, South Bend, Indiana
Wire Wheel, circa �9�0 (printed �97�–77) PhOTO Paul Strand COurTESY Whitney Museum of American Art © Aperture Foundation, Inc., Paul Strand Archive
Cars.indd 20-21 1/5/10 12:33:18 PM
�0 ��
Artists Look at the Car and the City New York City has provided artists with a stage for
fantastic images that synthesize the city and cars.
While artists featured will include photographer Paul
Strand and painter Albert Gliezes, perhaps the most
memorable image of the dynamic between the car and
Times Square is Ted Croner’s photograph of a city taxi;
radiant and hovering. The vehicle is a creature of light,
seeming to float among the other lights of the square.
About the Curators Donald Albrecht is the Museum of the City of New
York’s Curator of Architecture and Design. his
exhibitions at the Museum include The High Style of
Dorothy Draper, The Mythic City, and Paris/New York:
Design Fashion Culture, 1925–40. his exhibition,
Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future opened at the
Museum in November �009.
Phil Patton is the author of many books and writes
on automobile design for the New York Times. he has
been a contributing editor of ID magazine, Esquire,
Wired, and Departures. he has been consulting
curator for museum shows, including the Museum of
Modern Art’s exhibition Different Roads: Automobiles
for a New Century.
FAr LEFT
Simplex Automobile Co. sales brochure, �909 COurTESY
Science Industry and Business Library, New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations
LEFT
Sketch, New York designer raymond Loewy’s �95� Commander Starliner hardtopCOurTESY Studebaker National Museum, South Bend, Indiana
Wire Wheel, circa �9�0 (printed �97�–77) PhOTO Paul Strand COurTESY Whitney Museum of American Art © Aperture Foundation, Inc., Paul Strand Archive
Cars.indd 20-21 1/5/10 12:33:18 PM
�� ��
LEFT
Preliminary gallery design, Cars, Culture and the City Museum of the City of New York
rIGhT
Nissan Land Glider, an energy–efficient compact car to be displayed at the �0�0 New York International Auto Show COurTESY Nissan
BACK COvEr
Motorama, Waldorf–Astoria hotel, �950 COurTESY Bettmann/COrBIS
About the Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association (GNYADA)In �9�0, a small group of automobile dealers joined
forces to help each other work through the many
pressures facing their emerging industry. Thanks to new
mass–production techniques, the four–wheeled
“contraptions,” that were sold and serviced by dealers,
were changing from a low–volume luxury to a new form
of transport for the masses. Through the Depression,
two world wars, the oil crisis of the �970s, and recent
economic booms and busts, auto dealers —
entrepreneurs who epitomized the American Dream—
helped transform the way we live, work and play by
delivering us the car. Today, as the Greater New York
Automobile Dealers Association celebrates its �00th
birthday, it stands as the leading organization of its
MCNY School and Public ProgramsThe presentation of Cars, Culture and the City will
provide the Museum’s Frederick A. O. Schwarz Children’s
Center with an exciting opportunity to create special
programs for students and teachers keyed to New York
State curricula. Accompanying materials will be created
for use in the Museum as well as in the classroom. In
addition, the Museum will offer an ambitious menu of
public programs, ranging from symposia and lectures on
the latest scholarship to walking tours relevant to the
role of the automobile in New York.
About the Museum of the City of New YorkThe Museum of the City of New York explores the past,
present, and future of New York City and celebrates its
rich heritage of diversity, opportunity, and perpetual
transformation. Founded in �9�� as a private, non–
profit corporation, the Museum serves the people of
New York and visitors from across the country and
around the world through exhibitions, collections,
publications, and school and public programs.
Susan Madden Director of DevelopmentMuseum of the City of New York���0 Fifth AvenueNew York, NY �00�9���–5�4–��7� ext. ��00 [email protected]
kind, serving over 500 dealers in New York City, Long
Island, Westchester and rockland counties. In addition
to representing the interest of New York’s dealers,
GNYADA is the custodian of the ��0–year old New York
International Automobile Show—the first uS auto show.
The Association recently completed a $�8 million,
90,000 sq–ft Center for Automotive Education &
Training, located at the Association’s headquarters in
Whitestone, Queens, to train the automotive workforce
of the future and address the new technologies the
automobile will offer for years to come.
Mark Schienberg, PresidentGreater New York Automobile Dealers Association�8–�0 Whitestone ExpresswayWhitestone, NY ���577�8–74�–[email protected]
For further information on Cars, Culture and the City, please contact:
Cars.indd 22-23 1/5/10 12:33:23 PM
�� ��
LEFT
Preliminary gallery design, Cars, Culture and the City Museum of the City of New York
rIGhT
Nissan Land Glider, an energy–efficient compact car to be displayed at the �0�0 New York International Auto Show COurTESY Nissan
BACK COvEr
Motorama, Waldorf–Astoria hotel, �950 COurTESY Bettmann/COrBIS
About the Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association (GNYADA)In �9�0, a small group of automobile dealers joined
forces to help each other work through the many
pressures facing their emerging industry. Thanks to new
mass–production techniques, the four–wheeled
“contraptions,” that were sold and serviced by dealers,
were changing from a low–volume luxury to a new form
of transport for the masses. Through the Depression,
two world wars, the oil crisis of the �970s, and recent
economic booms and busts, auto dealers —
entrepreneurs who epitomized the American Dream—
helped transform the way we live, work and play by
delivering us the car. Today, as the Greater New York
Automobile Dealers Association celebrates its �00th
birthday, it stands as the leading organization of its
MCNY School and Public ProgramsThe presentation of Cars, Culture and the City will
provide the Museum’s Frederick A. O. Schwarz Children’s
Center with an exciting opportunity to create special
programs for students and teachers keyed to New York
State curricula. Accompanying materials will be created
for use in the Museum as well as in the classroom. In
addition, the Museum will offer an ambitious menu of
public programs, ranging from symposia and lectures on
the latest scholarship to walking tours relevant to the
role of the automobile in New York.
About the Museum of the City of New YorkThe Museum of the City of New York explores the past,
present, and future of New York City and celebrates its
rich heritage of diversity, opportunity, and perpetual
transformation. Founded in �9�� as a private, non–
profit corporation, the Museum serves the people of
New York and visitors from across the country and
around the world through exhibitions, collections,
publications, and school and public programs.
Susan Madden Director of DevelopmentMuseum of the City of New York���0 Fifth AvenueNew York, NY �00�9���–5�4–��7� ext. ��00 [email protected]
kind, serving over 500 dealers in New York City, Long
Island, Westchester and rockland counties. In addition
to representing the interest of New York’s dealers,
GNYADA is the custodian of the ��0–year old New York
International Automobile Show—the first uS auto show.
The Association recently completed a $�8 million,
90,000 sq–ft Center for Automotive Education &
Training, located at the Association’s headquarters in
Whitestone, Queens, to train the automotive workforce
of the future and address the new technologies the
automobile will offer for years to come.
Mark Schienberg, PresidentGreater New York Automobile Dealers Association�8–�0 Whitestone ExpresswayWhitestone, NY ���577�8–74�–[email protected]
For further information on Cars, Culture and the City, please contact:
Cars.indd 22-23 1/5/10 12:33:23 PM
� �
An Exhibition at theMuseum of the City of New York
Cars, Culture & the City
Cars.indd 2-1 1/5/10 12:33:01 PM
